This patent application relates generally to an apparatus for mass producing helical vegetable strips, and specifically to a rotating cutter used on such an apparatus. French fried potatoes and other vegetables of generally spiral or helical shape have become increasingly popular. Consumers like them because of their interesting appearance, and they are appealing to institutional food providers and restaurateurs because a given volume of french fries has more plate coverage when they are of helical shape.
Systems for cutting helical french fries are currently available in the marketplace. The cutters in many of the systems are disk-like in nature; that is, the cutter which slices the potatoes or other vegetables into helical strips is generally a substantially flat or helical circular plate having a knife blade or xe2x80x9cslabber bladexe2x80x9d extending from the axis of rotation to the periphery of the disk. Mounted on the upstream face of the disk is a plurality of slitter blades. The slitter blades are located at different radii and sometimes are spaced with a radial pitch to one another. In the prior art, each of the slitter blades has substantially the same length. Therefore, each slitter blade extends approximately the same distance from the upstream face of the disk.
The previously described rotating cutters are used in conjunction with various feed systems to feed whole potatoes into the rotating cutter. One such feeding means is a hydraulic feed system. In such a system, potatoes are placed in a hydraulic medium which is pumped through a conduit. The outlet of the conduit is positioned to be in alignment with the rotating cutter. The potatoes are transported to the rotating cutter by the hydraulic medium.
The slitter blades determine the width of each helical potato strip to be cut. The slabber blade then cuts the thickness of each helical strip. The length of the helical strip is controlled by the length of the whole potato. Preferably, the slabber blade cuts a continuous helical strip the entire length of the potato.
One problem experienced with this type of system is ensuring that all of the potato is cut into helical strips. If the potato is not fully cut into helical strips, the uncut portion is scrap. The scrap potato is commonly referred to in the industry as a xe2x80x9cbutt end.xe2x80x9d Butt ends come from the portion of the potato that comes in contact with the cutter first. The primary cause of butt ends is the radial spacing of the slitter blades. As the potato is fed into the cutter at a high rate of speed, the slabber blade begins to cut the end of the potato, transversely to the longitudinal axis of the potato, before the slitter blades have had an opportunity to score the potato concentrically around the longitudinal axis. Because the innermost slitter blade is radially spaced the farthest away from the cutting edge of the slitter blade, it may not contact the potato until after the slabber blade has begun cutting the potato. The result is a butt end. In addition to being scrap, butt ends also tend to jam in the cutter and cause the yield of cut potatoes to be unnecessarily low.
It is, therefore, an important object of the invention to increase the yield of helical potato strips or other vegetable strips.
It is another object of the invention to reduce the number of butt ends of potatoes while cutting helical strips.
It is another object of the invention to reduce the potential for jamming potatoes or other vegetables in the cutter.
In summary, there is provided a cutter comprising a generally circular body which has a radial slit therein defining a pair of axially spaced cutting edges, a plurality of slitter blades which are radially spaced from each other and which extend axially from the face of the body, at least two of the slitter blades having different lengths.
The invention consists of certain novel features and a combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and particular pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the details may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the present invention.